Pregnant pause

Teenage pregnancy statistics are always cause for alarm; the latest, that South Africa had 160 754 teen pregnancies in just two years (to July 2010) being no exception. The figure was released by Statistics SA, which found the highest numbers of teenaged pregnancies in Limpopo Province.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has said that while her department is drafting regulations on pupil pregnancies, the problem is not something with which it alone can deal. Part of the problem is that teenage pregnancy is tied up in so much more than teenage behaviour patterns; it is particularly affected by socio-economic circumstances.

The highest rates of teenage pregnancies worldwide are in poor countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, and while intervention at school can help reduce teenage pregnancy rates, it is teenagers who are not attending school who are most at risk. While reports of children in primary school falling pregnant are truly shocking, according to research by the HSRC, 93 percent of all teen pregnancies are in the 17- to 19-year-old age group. And, the research shows, while some girls get pregnant and leave school, most girls leave school and then get pregnant; in other words teen pregnancy follows dropping out of school.

Prevention programmes can try to change high-risk teenage behaviour and ensure that children understand the consequences of their actions, but clearly a key intervention is to keep girls at school as long as possible. And that means implementing a raft of measures, including ensuring easy access to no-fee schools, making the social grant system more efficient, widening school feeding schemes, particularly in rural areas, and generally jacking up our quality of education.

The Education Department should certainly draft regulations to help teachers deal with pregnant charges, and these should include not preventing such girls from attending class and, controversially, considering the morally conservative nature of South African society, ensuring that condoms are freely available.

Editorial Comment: The Cape Times, 10 July 2012